Safety device for grade crossings



Sept. 30, 1930. T. Q. SMITH SAFETY DEVICE FOR GRADE CROSSINGS Filed Nov. 2, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 27 8111x722 BY m 7 32 ATTORNEY p 0 1930- T. Q. SMITH 1,777,234

' SAFETY DEVICE FOR GRADE CROSSINGS Filed Nov. 2, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORN EY WITNESS Sept. 30, 11930. T, SMITH 1,777,234

SAFETY DEVICE FOR GRADE CROSSINGS Filed Nov. 2, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 5,? 53 a4 ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 30, 1930 srar SAFETY DEVICE FOR GRADE CROSSINGS Application filed November 'This invention relates toa safety devic for grade crossings of railroads. I p

An object of the invention is the provision of a pair of bumpers which are adapted to be positioned transversely across a. highway and in parallel relation with the rails of a railroad for preventing traffic from crossing the railroad tracks when a train is approaching said crossing. V

A further object of the invention is the provision of a safety device in the formof bumpers located upon opposite sides of the railroad tracks and transversely of the high way to prevent trathc from crossing the tracks when a train is approaching, the bumpers being actuated by spirally arranged members located some distance from the crossing and connected with the bumpers for elevating the bumpers across the highway, means being employed for locking the bumpers in position before the train reaches the crossing with means being provided for releasing the locking means and for mantaining the bumpers in position when the train has reached the crossing.

This invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings; never heless, it is to be understood that the invention is not confined to the disclosure being susceptible of such changes and modifications as shall define no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a plan view of the safety device applied to railroad tracks and constructed accordingto the principles of my invention,

vFigure 2 is a fragmentary plan view showing the spirals which are acted upon by the wheels of a train,

Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section of the tracks showing the wheels of a train in operative relation with the spirals,

2, 1928. SerialNo. 316,732.

in Fig. 8 with asafety device in an inoperative position,

Figure 8 is a longitudinal vertical section taken along the line 8-8 of F 1,

Figure 9'is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the line 99 of Fig. 1-.

Referring more particularly t the drawings 10 and 11 designate a pair of rails upon which the wheels 12 and 13, respectively, are adapted to ride. The rails are supported in the usual manner by ties 1a which are dis posed longitudinally of the grade crossing,

indicated at 15, while the rails 10 and 11 are disposed transversely of said crossing A pair of spirally arrangeil members 16 and 17 have their ends respectively mounted in bearings 18 and supported by pairs of the ties 1%. Each of the spirals at their opposite ends have trunnions 2O receiver within the bearings. The spiral 16 consists of an end port-ion 21 connected with in end portion 22 by means of a spirally curved portion 23, so that the end portion 21 is normally located in a horizontal plane with the end portion 22, but extending in an opposite direction to the portion 22. spiral 17 is formed similarly to the spiral 6 and has an end flat portion 2 in approximately the same plane an end fiat portion and connected to the last mentioned portion by a spirally arranged portion 26. The end member 2i extends laterally in an opposite direction to the end of the portion for purpose which will be presently explained.

The trunnion 20 of the spiral 16 has a gear secured thereto which is in mesh with a segmental gear 31 pivoted at 32 on the bearing 18 and an arm 33 projects downwardly from the segmental gear 31 and is connected to a link 34*. A gear 35 is rigid with the trunnion 20 of the spiral 17 and is in mesh with the segmental gear 36 pivoted at 37 on the bearing 18. An arm 38 projects downwardly from the segmental ear 36 and is connected to the cable at so that the arms 33 and 38 are operated simultaneously and in the same direction, while causing rotation of the gears 30 and 35 in opposite directions.

A shaft 40 is mounted in bearings and is provided with a sleeve 11 loosely mounted thereon and having a slot 12 providing a shoulder 43 in the form of a cam adapted to be engaged by a pin 1-1 secured to the shaft 40. An arm 45 is secured to the sleeve 11 and has one end of the cable 31 connected thereto, as shown more particularly in Fig. 1. A pair of U-shaped levers 16 and 47 extend laterally from the shaft -10 adjacent the opposite ends. The rod 49 has a head 50 engaged by one end of a spring 51, the other end of the spring 51 resting upon a lever 53 secured to a shaft 54 which is mounted in a bearing 55. Another rod 49 is embraced by a spring 51 and has one end in engagement with a head 50 of the rod 49. The other end of the spring engages a lever 52 secured to a shaft 56 which is mounted in a bearing 57. A bumper 58 is rigid with the shaft 56 and is adapted to be oscillated when the shaft 56 is rocked. A bumper 59 is rigid with the shaft 54 and is oscillated'when the shaft 5 1 is rocked.

A plate 60 is hinged to the end of each bumper 58 and 59 shown at 61, and a second plate 62 is hinged at 63 to the lower end of the plate 60. The plate 62 is adapted to be folded upon the plate 60, as shown in Fig. 5, when a bumper is located in an inoperative position. A lamp 64 is secured to one face of the plate 62 and a bumper 65 on the plate 60 is adapted to engage the free end of the plate 62 and maintain said plates in spaced relation in order to prevent injury to'the lamp 6 1. This lamp is adapted to be illuminated at night by an electric circuit, not shown. 7

A bar 66 is swingably mounted on links 67 and 68. Link 67 is secured to a rock shaft 6.), while link 68 secured to the shaft 40. Therefore, when the bar 66 is depressed by th wheels of a train, the links 67 and 68 will be rocked thereby rocking the shaft 40 whence the pin 4% will move away from the shoulder 43 and thus prevent a simultaneous rocking of the sleeve 41 for a purpose which will be presently explained.

A pawl 70 is pivotally mounted at 71 and has its free end 72 resting within a slot 73 of the bar 66. The slot 73 is of suflicient length to permit the bar 66 to be moved to the right or to the left, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8 without elevating the free end 72 of the pawl 70. The pawl is adapted to engage the shoulder 7& on the sleeve 11 and maintain said sleeve against rocking movement, thereby retaining the bumpers 58 and 59 in elevated position until released. The opposite ends of the bar 66 are curved downwardly, as shown at 75, in order to permit the wheels of the train to move into engagement with the bar without causing any strain on the mechanism. A spring 92 coiled about the member 71 and is. attached to said member and has an arm 93 connected at 9 1 to the pawl 70 for maintaining the pawl in the position shown in Figs. 7 and 8 so that the pawl may engage the shoulder 74 on the sleeve 1-1.

It will be noted that a pair of the spirals 16 and 17 are disposed upon opposite sides of the crossing 15 and are each provided with gears connected with the lin is 3%. One end of each link 34 is connected with a bell crank 76 or 77 as the case may be. The other end of the lever 76 is connected to one end of the cable 34. A cable 78 is connected with the arm 45 and with a block 79' connected by means of a spring 80 with one end of the lever 77. The other end of said lever is connected by the link 34 with the lever 33.

The shaft 40 has a worm 81 in mesh with a segmental worm gear 82 which is rigid with a shaft 83. The upper end of the shaft carries a signal which is adapted to be re fated to a horizontal position with an indication such as stop thereon.

A shaft 85 is mounted in bearings 36 and has a worm 87 in mesh with a wormgear 8S, rigid with one end of a shaft 89. The upper end of the shaft carries a signal which is adapted to be revolved in such a position that it may be readily seen by the travelling public. A fool; lever 91 is connected with the shaft 85 and is adapted when depressed to cause rotation of the said shaft and liliewise the vertically disposed shaft 89 for moving the signal 90 into an operative position.

A treadle 91 is rigid with the shaft 56 and is adapted when depressed to cause roation of the shaft and thereby elevation of the bumper 58. The treadle 91 is rigid with the rock shaft 54; and is adapted when actuated to cause rotation of the shaft and likewise clevation of the bumper 59 to an elevated operative position.

The operation is as follows: hen a train approaches a crossing 15 and at some distance from the crossing moving in the direction from right to left in Fig. 1, the left hand wheels of the train will engage the portion 21 of the spiral 16 and rotate said spiral, thereby rocking the lever 38 through the intermeshing gears 35 and 36. The lever 33 also rocked since it is connected with the Lil lever 38 by means of a cable 34 and the levers are mounted in the direction of the arrow indicated in Fig. 9. The rocking ofthe lever 33 causes the intermeshing gears 31 and 30 to rock the shaft 18 and Cause rotation of the spiral 17. This causes the portion 25 of said spiral to be moved in spaced relation with the adjacent rail so that the wheels of the train do not come in contact withany part of the spiral.

The bell crank lever 76 is rocked since the cable 34 connects one arm of the bell crank lever with the lever 33. The rocking of the lever 76 causes a pull on the cable 34 and since this cable is connected to the lever 45, which in turn is connected to the sleeve 41, the sleeve is rotated and the pin 44 fixed to the shaft 40 engages a shoulder 43 of a slot 42 formedin the sleeve 41 thereby rocking said shaft 40.

When the shaft 40 is rocked the U-shaped levers 46 and 47 connected to said shaft, as shown more particularly in Figs. 5 and 6, will be drawn downwardly, depressing respectively the levers 53 and 5 2. The levers are respectively connected to the shafts 54 and 56 and since the bumpers 59 and 58 are respectively connectel to said shaft, said bumpers will be elevated. It will be noted that the pins 48 and 49 pass through perforations in the levers 53 and 52 and are connected, respectively, to the U-shaped levers 46 and 47 and any downward pull by said Ushaped levers on the pins 48 and 49 will.

cause the springs 51 to be compressed and move the levers 53 and 52, respectively, downwardly.

The pawl 70 is maintained in a predetermined position so that when the shaft 40 is rocked and the levers 6 8 and 67 are moved to the position shown in Fig. 8, and the bar 66 is likewise moved to the right, the shoulder of the sleeve 71 will be engaged by the pawl and prevent reverse rotation of the sleeve by the bumpers 58 and 59. It will be noted that these bumpers tend to move downwardly to an inoperative position by gravity.

As has been explained the slot 73 in the bar 66 is of sui'licient l ngth to permit shiftable movement of said bar without interfering with the operation of the pawl for looking the sleeve against reverse rotation. As soon, however, as the train moves across the bars 66 and the wheels of the train engage the pawl 70 said pawl will be depressed, releasing said pawl from engagement with the shoulder T 4, so that the bumpers will tend to move to an inoperative position. The bumpers are retained in an operative position due to the fact that the wheels of the train are rolling over the bar 66, maintaining it in its depressed position and thus holding the bumpers against downwardmovement; This condition is maintained as long as the bumper.

wheels of the train are moving over the bar 66 and this bar is of suliicientlength to be passesbeyond the crossing and the wheels leave the bar 66 the weight of the bumper will be sufficient to cause them to move to an inoperative position, as shown in Figure 5.

As the train continues beyond the crossing 15 the wheels on the left hand side of the train will engage the portion 21 of the spiral 16 but since the rotation of the gears connected with the spirals 16 and 17 is reverse to the rotation of the gears 30, 31, and and 36, the lovers connected with the gears associated with the spirals 16* and 17, will be moved in a direction which is opposite to the direction indicated for the levers 33 and 38 in Fig. 9 so that the cable 34 connected with said levers will be slackened and the bumpers 58 and 59 will therefore be retained in an in operative position.

v If on the other hand a train should stop beyond the spirals 16 and 17 and then would be reversed in its movement, the portion 25' of the spiral 17 would be engaged by the wheels of the rear car and-cause rotation of the spirals 17 and 16 so that the portion 21 of the spiral 16 would be moved away from the track and the spiral would not be affected 6 a pair of plates and 62 are hingedly connected to each other and with the plate 60 hingedly connected to the outer end of a As the bumper 59 is lowered, the lower free edge of the plate 62 engages the ground, causing it to tilt inwardly and since the plate 60 is hinged to the plate 62, the lower end of the plate 60 will also tilt inwardly and when the bumper 59 is moved to its lowermost position the plate 60 will be folded on the plate 62, as shown more particularly in Fig. 5.

If at any time an automobile or a vehicle should reach the crossing when the train has moved into the system and either of the spirals 16, 17 or 16, 17 are actuated, the vehicle may continue on its way and run over the elevated bumper, depressing the same without placing a strain on any of the parts. This is due to the fact that the springs 51 permit relative movements of the levers 52 and 53 and also due to the fact that when the shaft 40 is reversely rocked by the lowering of the bumper the pin 44 will move within the slot 42 and away from the shoulder 43, thereby preventing rocking of the sleeve 41.

If this were not the case the weight of the train on the spiral 17 would tend to maintain the bumpers in an elevated position and prevent escape of the vehicle.

elevated the shafts 40 and are rotated,

thereby causing respectively the rotation of the worms 81 and 87. These worms cause rotation of the segmental gears 82 and 88 respectively and rotation of the signals 83 and 90, thereby giving further warning to the occupants of the vehicle that the train is approaching a crossing.

The bumpers may be manually actuated bymeans of the treadles 91 connected with the shafts 54 and 56.

v I claim 1'. A safety device for grade crossings comprising a pair of spaced bumpers located at the grade crossing. means actuated by the wheels of a moving train and connected with the bumpers for raising the bumpers acres-4s the path of moving vehicles, means for re taining the bumpers in an elevated position, said retaining means being adapted to be released by the wheels of the moving train, and means acted on by the wheels for retaining the bumpers elevated when the train so arranged that one of the spirals will be rotated by the wheels of a moving train when the train is moving in one direction while the other spiral will be rotated by the wheels when the train is moving in the other direction, and means operatively connecting the spirals with the bumpers, so that when a spiral is rotated the bumpers will be elevated.

3. A safety device for grade crossings comprising a pair of spaced bumpers, means for pivotally mounting the bumpers, a pair of rotatably mounted spirals, the spirals being so arranged that one of the spirals will be rotated by the wheels of a moving train when the train is moving in one direction, while the other spiral will be rotated by the wheels when the train is moving in the other direction, means opcratively connecting the spirals with the bumpers so that when a spiral is rotated the bumpers will be elevated, means for ten'lporarily locking the bumpers in an operative and elevated position.

4. A safety device for grade crossings conirising a pair of spaced bumpers, i'neans for pivot-ally mounting the bumpers, a pair of tatably mounted spirals, the spirals being so arranged that one of the spirals will be rotated by the wheels of a moving train when the train is moving in one direction, while the other spiral will be rotated by the wheels when the train is moving in the other'direction, means operatively connecting the spirals with the bumpers so that when a spiral rotated the bumpers will be elevated, means for temporarily locking the bumpers in an op erative and eievated position, means associated with the locking means for causing release of said locking means.

5. A safety device for grade crossings con.- prising pair of spaced bumpers, means for pivot-ally mounting the bumpers, a pair of rotatably mounted spirals, the spirals being so arranged that one of the spirals will be rotated by the wheels of a moving train when the train is moving in one direction, while the other spiral will be rotated by the wheels when the train is moving in the other direction, means operatively connecting ii i spirals with the bumpers so that when a spiral is rotated the bumpers will be elevated, means for temporarily locking the bumpers in an operative and elevated, position, means associated with the locking means for causing release of saidlocking means, and means operatively connected with the bumpers andv actuated by the wheels of a tra'. for retaining the bumpers in an elevated position when the train is at the crossing.

(3. A safety device for grade cror-isings comprising a pair of spaced bumpers, means for pivotally mounting: the bumpers. a. pair of rotatably mounted spirals, the spirals being so arranged that one of the spirals will be rotated by the wheels of a moving train when the train is moving in one direction while the other spiral will be rotated by the wheels when the train is moving in the other direction, and means operativelv connecting the spirals with the bumpers so that when a spiral is rotated the bumpers will be elevated, rcsilient means included in the operative connections to permit the elevated bumpers to depressed.

7. A safety device for grade crossings comprising a pair of spaced bumpers located at the grade crossing, means actuated. by the wheels of a moving train and connected with the bumpers for raising the binnpers across the path of moving vehicles, means for re taining the bumpers in an elevated position, said retaining means being adapted to be released by the wheels of the moving train, and a foldable signal means carried by the free end of each bumper.

8. A safety device for grade er sings comprising a pair of spaced bumpers located at the grade crossing, means actuated by the wheels of a moving train and connected with the bumpers for raising the buniipers across the path of moving vehicles, said means including a rock shaft, means cennecting the shaft with the bumper, a sleeve on the shaft having a slot, a pin secured to the shaft and projecting through the slot for loosely connecting the sleeve with the shaft, and means for rocking the sleeve and likewise the shaft.

9. A safety device for grade crossings comprising a pair of spaced bumpers located at the grade crossing, means actuated by the wheels of a moving train and connected with the bumpers for raising the bumpers across the path of moving vehicles, said means including a rock shaft, means connecting the shaft With the bumper, a sleeve on the shaft having a slot, a pin secured to the shaftand projecting through the slot for loosely conneoting the sleeve with the shaft, means for rocking the sleeve and likewise the shaft, a resilient means included in, the first mentioned means to permit the elevated bumpers to be depressed at Will.

THOMAS Q. SMITH. 

